A Personal Journey
by Matt Mikuna
Summary: The journey of a group of young, new trainers.  They all have different goals, but will they find their dreams, or are they chasing false hopes?  Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon in anyway whatsoever.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Another cold day, just like everyone of his birthdays. It was winter after all. Snow covered everything, making the small town of Pallet shine in the moonlight and giving it a pale blue tint. The countryside looked just as beautiful, with the trees giving off a teal glow and the soft powdery snow left mostly untouched giving the land a smooth, wondrous appearance. The chilling, yet gentle, wind blowing across the area, freezing water into ice in houses and trees alike.

Not one person, not even the ice Pokemon, was outside on this winter's night, except for one. He had dark brown hair that reached the bottom of his neck, and eyes of the same color. He stood at about 5'7" at full height, was very fit and slightly muscular. He wore his usual outfit, comprised of a half-red, half-black T-shirt with a pair of black polyester pants with clothed insides for insulations and comfort. The shirt's top half was red, while the bottom half was black. In the center was a flaming symbol meaning protection surrounded by Growlithe and Arcanine. His pants had 2 white stripes running down the outer side of either leg. Despite the cold weather, he was actually quite warm because of the large coat he had on, made of thick, yet fake, dark blue fur.

He was laid back in the snow, hidden from view from passerby as he gazed up at the stars and thought about himself and his past. It had been at this very hour 6 years ago that he was found collapsed on this very hill. No one knew where he came from, for he had told no one. He had come from a hidden city named Gale Town, a town priding itself on it's mastery of Flying types. He had been banished for saying that flying types were one of many better types. He was 5 years old then. Since then, he had worked in Professor Oak's laboratory with Tracy as Oak assistant along with taking classes to qualify for his Pokemon quest.

He was deep in his thoughts, when footsteps could be heard. The crunching of snow under boots was all too familiar, and they were getting closer. The young boy sat up, looking around to see a young female his age coming toward him.

"Ha!" She called, "I knew I'd find you here, Matt. Don't you think you should be getting some rest before tomorrow?"

Matt knew she was right, but then again, that was the reason he was out here. The night was still young, about 9:00, and he couldn't get to sleep. Tomorrow would be the start of his journey, but his journey was more than to just become the best. It was a personal journey to him. A journey to find his home, and to find himself


	2. A new life

Chapter 1: A New Life

Matt looked up at the girl and smiled slightly. She was slightly shorter than himself, standing at 5'5" at full height and also slightly younger at 10 years old. She had waist long, light brown hair which was slightly wavy. Her eyes were deep sapphire blue, a color Matt always though was a beautiful color. She was thin, though not so thin as to be sick. She wore the same clothes as Matt, except her shirt was half-blue and had Seel and Dewgong. Her coat was the same too, color and all.

"I couldn't sleep." Matt said, "And what about you, Karren? Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I couldn't sleep either." Karren said sitting down next to Matt, "So I came out here to find you."

"I see."

"So, have you chosen which started you're going to pick?"

"Yes."

"So have I. I hope it's not the same one."

"I have a secondary choice just in case." Matt said. He knew which one he wanted the most, but he wasn't about to get his hopes up. He had the highest grade of the three who passed with top scores, so he would have to pick last. He didn't mind picking last since he had been in battle with all three choices before, so he knew how to work with them. There was a long pause before Karren broke the silence.

"Do you remember when we first met?" she asked.

"Yeah, who wouldn't?" Matt said, "I was being chased around by a trainer's beedrill and you recalled it just before it got me."

"How long ago was it again?" Karren asked Matt.

"Two years."

Matt had been alone in Pallet Town, save for Tracey and Oak, for four years before meeting Karren. She was still his only friend, and the two had formed a close bond of trust over the two years they had known each other. There was nothing the two hid from each other, except for Matt's home town.

"When are you leaving tomorrow?" Karren asked.

"Immediately." Matt responded.

"You're not going to say good-bye to the class?" she asked.

"No. They avoid me anyways, so I don't think they would mind if I didn't..." he responded in a sad tone while looking away.

"You know that's not true." she said.

"Can you prove me wrong?" he asked. Karren didn't speak, seeing as she had no rebuttal.

"I didn't think so." Matt said.

"I'm going home now." Karren said getting up, "I'm getting tired."

"Good night." Matt said, "Don't stay up too late."

"I won't."

Matt watched as Karren walked off until she was out of view. Something in her tone of voice told Matt that what he said got to her. He shrugged it off and got up as well, deciding it was time to get back to the lab. As he was taking his first step, a cry caught his attention. It wasn't human, so he went toward the sound. Everything was so alike in the plains ahead of him, he was surprised he didn't see what made the noise.

The cry came again. Matt looked toward the forest, sure that was where the the noise was coming from. As he wandered into the forest, a flock of butterfree above him took off. Matt jumped at the sound of their wings, but lost his balance. Unfortunately, it was downhill where he was, and when he fell, he began to slide quickly down the hill. There were no trees in his path, but to his horror, Matt saw a ravine ahead. He had been at it's edge several times, so he knew falling would prove fatal.

He sat up... the first step to recovering from this mess. The ravine came closer quickly as he gained speed. Nothing was in reach except for one tree by the edge. A single branch was within his reach, but it was low enough to hit him if he kept sitting up. He reached out as he passed it, his heart pounding on his chest as he fetidly tried to grab onto a hold or branch. The icy surface of the tree prevented him from getting a good grip. A pain in his head shattered his thoughts of survival as he realized he had neglected to duck from the very branch he tried to grab.

Slowly losing consciousness, he felt his body fly over the edge. He wanted to scream, but the drowsiness he was now feeling prevented it. He felt hopeless as his vision started to blacken and he started losing consciousness. The last thing he heard was the same cry as before and the flapping of giant wings before he lost to the abyss that pulled on his mind and all went black...


	3. A test?

Chapter 2: A Test?

Sunlight poured through one of the lab's window, lighting up the cluttered room. Proffesor Oak, Tracey, Karren, and another young female stood in the center of the the room around a small pedestal with three pokeballs on top of it. Tracy was rummaging through a box and pulled out 2 pokedexs and 10 pokeballs. He gave each trainer 5 pokeballs and a pokedex.

"These are the staple of your journey, as you should know." Oak said, "Those devices are know as pokedex. They will recored data on any and all pokemon that you're bound to meet on your adventure."

"Ummm, Professor?" Karren asked.

"Yes, Karren?" Oak said.

"Where's Matt?" she asked, "Isn't he supposed to be here today?"

"Hm, I'm afraid to say Matt got himself into a bit of trouble last night and is currently recovering from it." Oak explained, "He's lucky to be alive, not to mention fully healthy."

"What happened!?" Karren said, "Where is he?"

"Relax Karren, you can go see him after you choose your pokemon." Tracey said. Oak nodded in agreement.

"Ok." Karren sumitted. She stood impatiently as the young female trainer thought about which pokemon to choose. She had to resist telling the trainer off for not thinking it over sooner.

Matt woke in his room in the lab. He opened his eyes slowly, but snapped them shut again as seering pain from last night's ordeal hit him. It was a trobbing pain, but pain nonetheless. He could hear voices downstairs, one of them sounding rather impatient and urgent. He forced himself to sit up, despite his body's protests. His thoughts turned to what happened last night.

_How am I still alive? _he thought, _I was falling down that ravine. There was no way I could have survived the fall..._

His thoughts turned to what he had heard just before losing consciousness. Had he been saved? If so, by what? By the sound of it, it was some massive bird pokemon, but why?

_My head..._ he thought. He would give anything for some pain reliever right now. He shifted a bit in bed, and threw his legs over the side. Sunlight poured through the dark green curtains, giving his room a green tint. He had been out all night, to which he wasn't surprised from the blow he took. Holding his head in one hand, he got up and walked to his closet.

He got dressed in his favorite outfit, which had been cleaned last night. He put on a a lighter coat than he had on last night, since it would be Spring soon enough anyways. He found his pack, all ready packed, in the corner of the closet and shouldered it. He left the confined space of his closeta dn stretched, happy that his headache was letting up so soon. The voices had died down now, and the sound of doors closing could be heard. He looked at the clock and had to hold back a cry of amazement. It was one already, and he was late!

He started for the door when a glint caught his eye. He looked over to his bedside table, where the glint had come from, to see a perfectly round sphere sapphire sitting on it. It had never been there before, so he went up to it and picked it up. He was surprised of how cold it felt, especially in his heated room. Looking closly, he could see swirls of energy spinning inside of it.

While he was in wonder at the sapphire, he was still late. He quickly pocketed the Sapphire, and exited his room. The narrow hallway was strangely quiet as he walked downstairs to the examination room. It was empty except for Tracey, who was sitting next to the pedestal with a single pokeball left in it. He saw Matt and got up.

"I don't think you should be up and about all ready." he said, "That was a nasty blow to the heaad you took after all."

"I'm fine." Matt said defiantly, "Have the others already come?"

"Yeah." Tracey said, "They're out back already."

Matt walked up to the pedestal, looking at the single pokeball. He reached over and picked it up. A small flame sticker had been placed right above the button, indicating it was Charmander. He opened the ball, and a stream of white, fire-like light burst from it. A Charmander appeared from the ball, saying it's name as the light dispersed.

"Hey there." Matt said kneeling down, "Looks like we're partners here on out."

Charmander ran up to Matt, licking his hand a bit in slight affection. Matt got up with Charmander in one of his arms. He took the pokeball and put it in his pocket, which zipped shut. Charmander jumped from Matt's arm and ran in circles around Matt in excitment.

"Well, since you have your pokemon, you'll need these too." Tracey said, handing him a pokedex and 5 pokeballs. Matt took the items and placed them in a side pocket in his pack.

"And speaking of pokemon, you'd best hurry out back with everyone else." Tracy said, "There's supposedly a test back there for you guys."

"A test?" Matt asked, "Yeah, I'll go."

Matt walked through the lab until he got to the back door, Charmander following. He opened it and walked outside, squinting as the bright reflection of light from the snow hit his eyes. Before he could see anything other than blinding snow, a something threw itself against Matt, hugging him in a tight bear hug. Matt looked down to see Karren.

"I'm so glad you're ok!" she said, "Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"Sorry." Matt said, "Everything just kind of... happened."

"I don't care!" Karren said, "You could have died! Whatever saved you did a good deed last night."

"Yeah." Matt said. Two more trainers walked up. One was the female trainer that had picked up the Bulbasaur, while the other was a complete stranger.

"Finally, you're awake." The young female said, "Can we hury up and do this test now?"

"Seriously, I didn't come from Viridian to watch you sleep." said the other.

Both of them had their pokemon out already, a Rattata and a Bulbasaur. Professor Oak walked up behind the two trainers and looked at Matt.

"Ah, you're finally awake." he said, "How are you feeling?"

"Ok, thanks." Matt said, "What this test about?"

"It's just a quick battle." the Prefessor said, "Consider it practice."

Matt looked at Charmander, who nodded seriously and ran in front of Matt ready for battle. Karren looked at the two trainers for a second and got out her own pokeball. She tossed it and a Squirtle burst out in a blaze of white light. It too was ready to see battle for the first time."Two on one just isn't fair." she said, "I'll battle with Matt."

"I'll be the referee." Oak said. He cleared his throat and continued, "The battle between Matt and Karren versus John and Jessica is now ready! Are all sides ready to battle?"

Everyone around the field nodded, ready to fight.

"Then begin!" Oak called.


	4. Their First Battle

Chapter 3: Their First Battle

((I feel I should tell you this now. To make thing more interesting than scratch, tackle, and growl, I've decided to give each Pokemon an egg move to use. I'm also going to do this with wild Pokemon.))

"Charmander, let's start off with growl." Matt said. Charmander growl cutely, and neither of his opponents took any action. Their attack was lowered, but the two trainers thought it was a joke.

"Rattata, get out there and use bite!" John said. Rattata ran at Charmander, jaws wide open and ready to sink it's teeth into Charmander.

"Squirtle, use tackle." Karen said. Squirtle ran at Rattata and went into a diving tackle. Though it was a good try, Rattata jumped over Squirtle, using it as a jumping board more than anything. Rattata came in closer to Charmander from the air.

"Good work Karren." Matt said, "Use Ancient Power." Charmander charged up a small orb of brownish energy and fired it at Rattata. Being in the air, the Pokemon had no way to dodge the incoming attack, and was blown back towards it's trainer.

"Get up Rattata!" John said, and then rounded on Jessica as Rattata got up, "Help me!"

"Oh, right!" she said, "Bulbasaur, use Petal Dance on Squirte!" The petals flew at Squirtle, quickly. Squirtle was struck for a small while before Charmander stood in front of the attack, using it's tail flame to burn the petals.

"Good work Charmander, keep it up!" Matt called.

"Squirtle, use Aqua Jet on Rattata!" Karren said. The jet of water was extremely fast as it flew towards Rattata. Rattata ran to the side of the preoccupied Charmander, who was busy blocking Petal Dance. Charmander was hit and thrown back by a tackle attack.

"Charmander, use Ancient Power on Bulbasaur." Matt said. Charmander once again, fired the small orb of brown energy towards Bulbasaur, who was hit due to being in the middle of Petal Dance.

"Rattata, use Bite on Charmander!" John said.

"Squirtle, tackle with your shell!" Karren called quickly. Rattata charged at Charmander again, ready to bite it hard. Squirtle use jumped in front of Rattata shell first. Seeing as the shell was hard and smooth, the Bite slid bounced off it. With the extra force from tackle, it sent Rattata rolling.

"Charmander, use scratch on Rattata before it can recover." Matt called, suddenly excited. Charmander ran at the Rattata, it's claws raised. Rattata was just just getting up when the attack struck it. It once again rolled across the ground, but was unable to get back up again.

"John's Rattata is unable to battle! The winning team is Matt and Karren!" Professor Oak called. All the combatants' Pokemon were panting now, except for Bulbasaur who had done hardly any battling. Jessica returned it sadly.

"What was that!?" demanded John, "I thought you passed in the top three of your class, ad you freeze up in battle!?"

"Hey, she passed with grades, not battle skills." Matt said, "So don't take it out on her. One lost battle isn't going to kill you."

"Humph." John said before storming off. Jessica returned Bulbasaur and put the pokeball on the belt around her waist. Her Dark Brown hair stream in the cold wind as she shook her head sadly.

"I'll get better." she said, "I have to to catch more grass pokemon."

"That's the spirit" Oak said, "Your free to leave or rest, it's your choice."

"I'll be leaving now." she said, "Thanks for the offer." Jessica left, leaving just Karren, Oak, and Tracey with Matt. Tracey was being hoisted high up into the air playfully by Ash's Bayleef, but he still managed to congratulate the two on winning.

"Come on Matt." Karren said, "Let's go."

"Alright, I have something something I need to ask these two alone." Matt said. Karren looked at his suspiciously, then gave in and left to wait by the front gate. Matt reached into his pocket and showed Oak and Tracey.

"I found this by my bed when I woke up." Matt said, "You know what it is?"

Oak and Tracey looked at each other, and Oak looked back at Matt.

"It was found in your hand when we found you in front of the lab this morning." Oak said, "Whoever saved you must have left it."

"But, what is it?" Matt said.

"It's in Ice Sapphire." Tracey said, "I read about them once. They're really rare, and they have power no one can identify."

"Power?" Matt asked.

"Yes." Oak said, "People who have been in fatal situations with that stone in their possession would black out and later be at a safe haven when they woke."

"So... it'll save me when I'm about to die?" Matt asked.

"That's what some believe." Oak said, "Now, isn't Karren waiting for you?"

"Yeah." Matt said, "Thanks for the information. I'll see you later."

Both Oak and Tracey nodded. Matt walked around the lab into the front lawn and walked to the front gate, where Karren stood waiting with Squirtle. Charmander greeted Squirtle with a handshake, though Karren greeted Matt with a hug, which he returned this time.

"Are we ready to go?" Matt said.

"All ready." Karren responded. With that, they returned their Pokemon back to their balls in with the beam of read light from their centers. Matt stored his pokeball somewhere behind him while Karren stored hers in her pocket. They turned and walked down towards Route 1 and to their next destination.

((Advice on how I can do my battles better would be nice, if hey aren't good enough already.))


	5. The First Catch

It was night, a peaceful time for route 1 as the seemingly empty grasslands teemed with quiet Pokemon. Only two others, who were off the route a ways to avoid unwelcome company, stirred in the moon and fire light. Matt and Karren, the two beginning trainers from Pallet, sat around their small camp fire silently, watching the flames flicker and crackle. Matt's Charmander sat beside the fire, while Karren's Squirtle sat behind Karren, away from the heat of the fire.

"So..." Matt began, but didn't finish his sentence. Something seemed to be blocking his voice from continuing.

"So what?" Karren asked.

"When are we parting ways?" Matt asked. His eyes didn't move from the base of the fire, watching the blue, yellow, and orange flames mix together to make the campfire. Karren and the Pokemon stared at him when he asked the question, making him feel uneasy.

"What do you mean?" she asked, "You don't want to travel together?"

"It's not that..." Matt said, "It just that you're a trainer. You'll eventually have to go to the Plateau to register, and since I don't have the my sights set on anything like that, I'm going to be bypassing it."

"Oh..."

There had been a new rule out for trainers stating that all new trainers wishing to participate in the Pokemon league of any region must sign up at the appropriate stadium. In Kanto's case, it would be the Indigo Plateau.

"I don't know." she said, "I guess it would be Viridian, since it's the closest town to the Plateau."

"I see." Matt said. He didn't want to part ways, but he had no intention of going out of his way for nothing. His journey was to be ended quickly so that he could go home and live with his real family. Karren didn't seem to mind. She just shrugged and put the fire out.

"Good night." she said laying down in her sleeping bag. Squirtle laid next to her silently. Matt recalled Charmander, as it's tail light would keep their location lit up and likely make it harder to fall asleep. He laid down in his own sleeping bag and eventually fell asleep, thinking of ways he wouldn't have to separate from Karren on his journey.

The next morning sun finally brought Matt back to reality with it's piercing gaze. Squinting in the bright sunlight, Matt looked around the camp. It was empty besides him and the remnants of the campfire from the night before, which still smoldered gently. Matt looked around, but Karren or her belongings weren't anywhere to be seen. Matt had seen this coming, but still found himself sad and speechless at her sudden disappearance.

Despite his feelings, he still got up and got ready to go. After everything was tended to, including the still smoldering fire and making sure he had everything, he set off down the route again. He still had a long way to go, but he could see Viridian in the distance. It heightened his spirits a bit, and his pace quickened up without him really noticing. He continued like this for most of the day until he got to a small wooded area.

"What the...?" he asked himself. He hadn't seen this earlier, so why was it here now? He looked at the map he had brought with him and noticed there had been a fork in the road. Both led to Viridian, but this certain road went by a small wooded area and a river. Something the woods didn't seem right, but then again, he didn't feel like working his way all the way back to the fork, which would likely take the rest of the day. He stepped into the woods without another hesitation, working his way around the trees and other plants.

He could hear Pokemon, bird, bug, and grass all wandering around and communicating with each other. The forest was thick and ark though, so he couldn't see them in the shadows. He finally came to a clearing, the first one so far. It was small, and little sunlight was getting through the treetops.

"Hey, Charmander, I need your tail light." he said calling his Pokemon out. In a blazing, shape shifting light, Charmander formed in front of Matt. It looked around curiously at it's surroundings, it's fiery tail now lighting the surrounding areas. Many shadows moved and cries came, indicating Pokemon were around them. One in particular, a Budew, came into the light. It looked agitated by the sudden appearance of the light.

"Looks angry..." Matt said, "Wonder what's wrong."

Matt pulled out his pokedex, opened it, and pointed it towards Budew. It's blue core started blinking and a picture of Budew came up on the screen. A prerecorded voice started speaking from the device.

"Budew, the Bud Pokemon. It is said that when this pokemon gathers together, anyone near will relax."

"Not a very enlightening explanation." Matt said.

At his words, the Budew unleashed a flurry of leaves that flew at him. The leaves flew quickly, giving him little times to react. Luckily, as it had done in it's previous battle, Charmander used it's tail flames to burn the leaves into harmless chars that floated in the air.

"Charmander, use scratch!" Matt said. Charmander ran at Budew with it's claw raised, ready to strike it. Budew launched another flurry of leaves in retaliation, which stopped Charmander from charging any farther.

"Charmander, try an Ancient Power." Matt called. Charmander formed the small orb of brownish energy and fired it at Budew. It tore through the leaves easily and hit Budew hard. The force of the impact sent Budew up into the air. It landed hard on the ground, but got back up and shot a beam of green, sparkling light at Charmander.

"Charmander, dodge it and use scratch." Matt said. Charmander jumped away from the absorb attack, and ran at Budew again with it's scratch. Having just launched an attack, it had little time to recover before it was hit. It rolled away from force of the attack, now weakened. It got back up slowly, but didn't launch an attack.

"Alright!" Matt said, "You're so caught!"

Matt threw one of his five pokeballs at Budew. The ball struck it, opened up, and sucked it in with a red beam of light while hovering above it. The ball closed and fell to the ground, shaking as the Budew tried to escape from inside. Finally, the struggle ended, and the pokeball let out a noise and stopped shaking.

"Alright!" Matt said. He picked up the pokeball and looked at it. He had caught his first pokemon, with th help of Charmander that is. It was a great feeling to know he had did it all himself.

"You did great Charmander." He said, "Let's keep going. We have to catch up with Karren."

Charmander nodded, and Matt recalled it back into it's ball with the beam of red light. He shrunk both balls and put them away behind him. He continued into the forest, down a path that had been made a while back. It was faded, but still clear enough to follow easily. He continued down the road for the rest of the day before setting up camp. It was an uneventful night, and Matt went to bed soon after the sun went down, dreaming of things he never thought he would...


	6. A new meaning

Chapter 5

Viridian City, the first stop on Matt's journey. The streets were over-crowded in Matt's opinion, and he wanted to leave as soon as he could. As he walked, he looked for any sign of the pokemon center, so he could get his pokemon checked and leave. Being alone in the vast city made him feel vulnerable, making him wish that Karren hadn't left.

It was cold, and Matt really couldn't stand much of it anymore. The ground was covered in trampled snow and the windows and roofs of the buildings were covered in a thick, silver coating of snow.

After hours of walking through the vast city, it began to get dark. The sunset made the sky look a bright orange with a dark pink outline and made the city's buildings look as if they were on fire. It was a beautiful sight, but Matt's weariness and cramped legs made any admiration fade from him. He longed for a cushioned chair or bench to sit on.

[iI should have brought a map.[/b he thought. As he walked down yet another crowded street, he noticed a small park near the end of it. Relief shot through him just at the sight of it, a place to rest for a bit. As soon as it was to his side, he bolt from the crowd and into the park. It wasn't as crowded, it had a comfortable and welcoming feeling to Matt.

"Finally." Matt said to himself, "A good place to rest..."

Some loud noises caught his attention after a while. He resisted the urge to get up, but his curiosity was overwhelming. He got up, ignoring the protests his body sent him. He headed through a few bushes towards the sounds, which grew steadily louder. After weaving through a few trees, he came upon a small opening.

Two trainers, a male and a female, stood side by side with their two pokemon in front of them, a Beautifly and a Glaceon. They seemed to have been training for a while, and numerous trees and bushes were frozen or knocked over.

"Alright Beautifly, use Silver Wind!" the female called. Her Beautifly shot off a gust looking attack, but it had silver like sparkles running along it. It gave the attack a beautiful glimmer to it. The winds spiraled in the air, as if it were a mini tornado.

"Glaceon, use Ice Beam!" the male said. The ice pokemon fired off a jagged beam of light blue energy into the spiraling winds. The sparkles of silver in the winds turned blue and the winds dispersed forcibly. The outwards force caused the sparkles to fly over the park, making them look like light blue stars against the now dark pink sky. It was a marvelous sight to behold, and despite the cold, Matt found himself admiring the sight.

"Awesome job Glaceon, we'll dominate the contest with these skills!" the male said petting his Glaceon, who purred affectionately.

"Not a chance, because me and Beautifly will be the winners!" the female said proudly. They both laughed a bit and recalled their pokemon. Only then did Matt approach with his questions.

"Excuse me, do you know where I'd find the pokemon center?" Matt asked.

Both the trainers turned to him, but it was the male who spoke to him.

"Yeah, it's across the park." he said pointing, "That way."

"Thanks, and what's this contest?" Matt asked. The male cocked an eyebrow, but didn't answer. The female answered him in his place.

"How do I say it...?" she said thoughtfully, "It's a contest where coordinaters try to prove that they have the most impressive and best looking pokemon. But, it's not just your pokemon's looks, it's their attacks and unity with their trainers."

Matt crossed his arms and closed his eyes, trying to imagine what something like that would be like. What came to mind first was a group of trainers changing a single attack to make it look better, but he couldn't imagine that something like that would work. Other things came to his mind, like gym like battles with elegant styles and attack and something like a beauty pageant.

"I see, where's the closest gym?" he asked. Both looked at Matt and giggled a bit. It was the girl that answered again.

"It's called a contest hall, and it's just behind the pokemon center in this city." she said, "I have to go now, so bye."

Without waiting for either the male or Matt to respond, she walked off and out of sight. As if on cue, the male also turned and left in the same direction, leaving Matt alone in the small, abused clearing. Matt left soon as well in th direction of the pokemon center. He was deep in thought, trying to decide whether he should check it out or not.

In his room in the pokemon center, he lay in bed wide awake. He was restless and his mind was wandering so much it was hard to relax enough. Though deep in thought, he could hear the same two trainers from before talking. They were talking about something called Team Shadow, and how they were pure evil.

Matt's thoughts afterwards were on the same subject. He began to drift into the world that only existed in his own mind, where even the most wildest things could happen. His last thoughts before drifting off were something he had been convinced of for a long time.

[iThere is no good or evil, just two different sides with different perspectives. What Tam Shadow is doing is right in their own perspective while it's bad in ours. We fight, believing that our side is good and their side is bad. No one ever takes the time to think of what the other side thinks, and that's what causes war...[/i

((Note: This was thrown together as a quick pickup to the story since I haven't been able to post anything up for a while.))


	7. Contest Start

Chapter 6: The start

Matt awoke from his sleep to the bright rays of sunshine entering through the open window. He rolled over onto his back, laying spread out for maximum comfort. He felt very cold, despite he was under the blankets, but he wasn't thinking about that. The main thing on his mind was the contest that was supposed to be going on today at the Hall behind the Pokemon Center.

"Don't wanna get up..." he whispered to himself, slurring his words due to his drowsiness. He knew he wouldn't feel awake until he got up, but the bed was so comfortable he felt like he was floating. Steeling himself, he forced himself to roll over, throwing his legs off of the edge of the bed while sitting up. He got up, shaking his head when he felt dizzy. It always happened when he got up too fast.

He scratched his back as he walked to the small bathroom. After doing his business, washing and changing, he grabbed his things and left the room. Though it was only six in the morning, the lobby was already packed with trainers and coordinators. He wasn't very surprised, since may trainers were very serious about their journey and wanted to get in as much as they could every day. He knew Karren was one of them.

As his thoughts turned to Karren, his mood dropped. What had happened to her? Was she kidnapped, attacked? Or did she just leave of her own will. Why? So many questions filled Matt's mind, and though he tried to shift his attention away, he failed. He shook his head, trying futily to clear his thoughts as he left the Center.

The cold air hit him hard, washing any trace of drowsiness away. He had forgotten it was winter, and he wasn't properly dressed. His destination wasn't that far away, so he didn't bother putting on a coat. He walked to the left of the center and went down the first alley he came to. In the alley, the sounds of the city seemed to echo and make it louder. Announcements for several products and events rang from the end of the alley he faced. He continued to walk, dodging leaking gutters and other things that would make him colder than he already was.

When he reached the end of the alley, he noticed that many of the buildings looks exactly alike. He looked around for any hint of the contest hall, but to no avail. Had he missed it on accident? He turned around to see no turns in the alley. He looked back at the street, still just as confused as when he began. He shrugged and decided to test his luck, entering the building to his right.

Matt could tell he was in the right building as soon as he walked in. A large Ribbon sign hung above a counter directly ahead of him, and a large amount of coordinators were gathered. Not only were they coordinators, but they all had at least one beautiful pokemon with them. Some of their coats shimmered in the light, while others' gave off a faint glow. It was easy to say that they put his pokemon to shame when it came to looks.

He walked up to the counter, looking around at all of the decorations in awe. He reached the counter, still engulfed in this thoughts when a voice interrupted them.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" it asked. Matt snapped back to reality as he looked over the counter. He saw a woman around 30. She didn't look too happy as she looked at Matt.

"Oh, yeah, I'd like to be approved for contests." he said. The words left his mouth before he knew they did, and he was soon handing his pokedex over the counter to get his license. The process too a few seconds as the woman put his pokedex into a narrow slot in the counter and a license popped out. She handed him his pokedex, his new coordinator license, an envelope, and a see through, light-blue ball. Matt thanked her and left the line.

He saw why she didn't look too happy now. He had been holding the line to the point it almost reached outside. He quickly moved away to the spectator area. The contest the two coordinators mentioned yesterday hadn't started yet, nor had many of the spectators arrived. He took a seat in the front row, examining his new "clear ball" as other coordinators called it. His pokeball was supposed to go inside, he knew that much, but then what?

His thoughts were once again interrupted, this time by spectators starting to enter. Also noticed three tables being set up on stage. Matt had no idea what they were for, but he had a few guesses. Soon, the whole stadium was full of spectators, and Matt found himself sitting next to some small child and a girl about his age.

Something about her caught Matt's attention. Her hair, eyes and voice were the first thing he noticed. He hair, which was bright pink when caught in the light and slightly past her shoulders, stood out to him. Her eyes seemed golden, which were a very unique color indeed, and her voice was flute-like as she cheered on the announcer walking onto stage.

"Welcome to the first Pokemon Contest of the league!" she called, "My name is Lilian and I'll be your announcer for the contests! Are you all ready!?" This brought wild cheers throughout the crowd, and as Matt helped cause the noise, he could still hear the girl next to him the clearest of them all.

((Note: You should imagining this in the anime form, not as in real life. Also, if you want the characters' bios, you can ask me and I'll send them to you via E-Mail, pictures included.))


	8. A PinkHaired Girl

Chapter 7: The contest.

Aside from the girl next to him, he heard Lilian introducing the three judges: Nurse Joy, Mr. Pokemon, and some girl named May. After all three judges said their hellos, Lilian started introducing the first coordinator.

"And now, all the way from the Hoenn region and the winner of 2 grand festivals, Drew!" she called into her microphone. The cheering was almost deafening as the coordinator walked onto the stage. There was something about him Matt didn't like, mainly his cocky look and the strut in his step. Drew took out his pokeball, which was inside a clear ball just like Matt's except for the fact that it had a leaf sticker right over the button on it. Drew's voice was heard through the whole stadium as he called out his pokemon.

"On stage with Petal Dance Roselia!" he called. Instead of the white light Matt was accustomed to, his Roselia burst out of his pokeball with a plethora of leaves and with a green light. Roselia was already spinning with it's arms stretched upwards when it came out, spraying sparkling pink petals circles above it. The leaves were also following suit, spinning above it.

"Good, now finish this with a solarbeam!" Drew called. For the first time, Matt noticed an opening in the ceiling, sunlight pouring in from it. The solarbeam didn't take long to charge and fire. The beam ripped through the petals and leaves, causing the leaves to burst into groups of green sparkles, and the sparkles from the petals and the leaves flew outwards. When the beam ended, the petals and sparkles were floating down on the whole stadium.

"Excellent combinations of attacks." Nurse Joy said, "A good example of the bond between the two."

"I agree. It was an excellent display." Mr. Pokemon said.

"It's so pretty, I love it!" May cooed. Matt had to agree with them, though grudgingly. It was a very excellent display, and Roselia seemed to glow in the dimmed light of the sparkles. Matt could tell that he wasn't the only one who found it impressive. The whole crowd left out another deafening cheer. Drew took a bow before leaving the stage with his Roselia.

No one else seemed to come close to matching Drew for the rest of the contest. There were a few good ones, like a Gastly and it's overly talented tongue, which made several shapes on it's own. The battle rounds didn't go as impressive either. Drew stirred up the crowd by having his Roselia dance around the stage to dodge a series of attacks from the Gastly, which ultimately led to his victory.

The ending ceremony took place soon after the battle rounds. Drew stood across from May, who was holding out a small dark, green ribbon to him.

"As good as always. Congratulations." she said.

"Heh, Thanks." Drew replied. He shook May's hand, which drew a deep blush on May's face, and walked out of the Hall. The crowd started leaving too, and Matt was caught behind the same pink-haired girl again. She walked gracefully, and Matt couldn't help but stare at her as he walked. She turned around a looked at him, and he once again looked away quickly. She turned back around and quickly walked away.

It seemed to take an eternity to get out, and when he finally did, Matt welcomed the cold air. It felt good to him after being stuck in the Contest Hall for hours. He yawned and stretched, thinking about what to do next. He thought about heading back to the Pokemon Center to get a bite to eat, but he wasn't very hungry. And he didn't need to stock up on anything, so the only thing left was to leave town and set up camp. It was nearly sunset, but he set off towards the north end of town anyways.

It was nearly an hour before Matt finally got out of the crowded streets of Viridian and reached the wilderness. It was nearly dark, so the cold was starting to get to him and the lack of light worried him. Soon enough the only light he would have was the moonlight reflecting off the thin layer of snow, and that would lead to serious lack of sight. He turned off the road and set down his bag. He reached behind him, grabbing Charmander's pokeball and tossing it out.

"Come on out Charmander." Matt called. Charmander came out of the pokeball in it's blaze of white, fire-like light. It landed on the cold snow, which melted as Charmader's tail came close. Not only did this provide light, it provided enough heat to dry out the camping area.

"Hey Charmander, can you use Ember to clear and dry the area?" Matt asked. Charmander nodded, and started firing off embers around a large circle of the area. The area was soon dry and ready for camp. Matt laid out his sleeping bag on the heated ground and stood up. He had no wood to start a fire, and he wasn't going to eat a cold dinner.

"Hey Charmander, stay here while Budew and I go get some firewood." Matt said. Charmander nodded and started walking in circles around the camp to patrol the area. He called out Budew out of it's pokeball and walked towards the nearest tree. He looked up into the tree to see most of the branches untouched by the snow.

"Budew, use razor leaf!" Matt said, "Cut those branches down."

Budew's razor leaf cut through most of the branches easily. Most of the branches were cut easily, and Matt caught them before they came near the ground. Other branches took several leaves to cut through, but they came down nonetheless. Matt had an armful of large branches in his hand when something came down and struck him in the face.

He shook his head, more shocked than hurt by the impact. Whatever it was was soft, so he doubted he would have been hurt anyways. He looked behind him, where the mysterious attacked had landed. He saw a small squirrel like pokemon with a blue stripe running down it's back. It didn't look happy, and it seemed ready to attack again. Matt took out his pokedex and aimed it at the small pokemon. The words scrolled down the screen, describing the pokemon as a speedy pokemon and very territorial.

"Speedy..." Matt said, "Going to have to somehow use it's advantaged to it's disadavantage. Ready Budew?"

Budew nodded, and Pachirisu took the motion as a challenge. It charged on all fours towards Budew. It's speed shocked Matt.

"Budew, use Razor Leaf!" Matt called. Budew spun in place, firing off a large amount of leaves at the charging Pachirisu. The pokemon was hit, but it kept charging and eventually impacted with Budew. Budew skidded back, regaining it's balance from it's spinning. By the time it had a sight on Pachirisu, it was already being charged at again.

"Budew, hit it with your absorb attack!" Matt called. This time, the the beam of green light hit dead on and stopped Pachirisu in it's tracks. The light surrounded the small pokemon and turned red, indicating it's energy was being absorbed. Budew extended the attack's length, making it hit longer than normal. When the attack ended, the red energy flew into the air and surrounded Budew, healing what damage it had taken.

Pachirisu fell to the ground, spent from having a majority of it's energy absorbed. Budew hopped up and down happily, celebrating it's first victory since joining Matt. Matt smiled and took out an empty pokeball, tossing it at Pachirisu. The ball struck Pachirisu's tail, opened up and absorbed the pokemon in a beam of red light. The ball fell to the ground, shaking furiously as the core blinked red. The instant was tense as Matt stared at the ball. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the ball stopped and Matt picked it up.

"Alright, I caught a Pachirisu!" Matt said, "Great job Budew!"

Budew jumped up and down more. Matt recalled it, and put both his pokemon back onto his belt. He hefted the wood to a more comfortable position on his shoulder and set off for his camp, which wasn't too far off. He could already see Charmander's fire in the center of the camp. It didn't take long for to get to the edge of the camp, but something was out of place.

The fire was far too large to be Charmander's tail and the figure beside the fire was too large for Charmander. He quickened his pace and finally came up to the fire. His face changed from curious to shock, for beside the fire was a girl with bright pink hair, golden eyes, and a a flute-like voice.


	9. Their Histories

Chapter 7 A new friend

"Excuse me, but can I ask why you're in my camp?" Matt asked. It was the first words out of his mouth when he saw the girl from earlier. She looked at Matt from a pot over the fire, where she was apparently cooking something. Her hair waved slightly in the small, cold breeze that blew through the camp. Charmander ran from behind the fire to Matt's side.

"It's rude to stare." she said, "And it's also rude to address someone like that without introducing yourself."

"Sorry... My names Matt." he said, "You sat next to me in the Contest Hall right?"

"Yes." she responded, "And you were staring then too."

"Don't you have a keen eye?" Matt asked sarcastically, "And you haven't introduced yourself yet, or answer my question on why you are here."

"My name is Alyssa, and I'm here to ask why you were so interested in me." Alyssa asked.

"I don't know." Matt said, "I just thought you looked cute."

"I'm honored."

Matt could hear the sarcasm in her voice, and he couldn't help but laugh. He looked at her again to see her looking directly into his eyes. Her eyes, though kind, were piercing and judicious. She returned her attention to the food after a short staring contest between the two. Matt sat down beside her, staring at the fire for a while before speaking again.

"It's strange." he said.

"What?"

"That's you'd come all the way out here just to ask me something as simple as that."

"Oh."

"There's more to it isn't there?" Matt asked. There was a silence for a bit before Alyssa spoke again. She stared at the food as she spoke.

"Yes, I was wondering if I could join you." she said, "You're a pokemon trainer correct?"

"A coordinator." Matt responded, "And why do you want to join me? We barely know each other..."

"I thought we could get to know each other." Alyssa said, "I'm on a journey too, and traveling alone is too boring and lonely."

"I see." Matt said, "There isn't much to tell about me, so I'll go first. My name you already know, so I'll start with my history. I don't remember anything before my 7th birthday, but since then, I've been an assistant in Professor Oak's Laboratory, helping him with whatever he or Tracey needs doing and can't do themselves."

Matt described his life as an assistant in the laboratory, his friendship with Karren, how his school days were, and finally up to the point where he was saved by a mysterious pokemon and woke up with the Sapphire. After that, he described his short trip to Viridian and everything past that point up to their meeting. When he finished, both were quiet again. This time, the silence was long, the only sound coming from the fires from the camp fire and Charmander's tail.

"You say you had a sapphire?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure." Matt said. Matt reached into his pocket and pulled out the gem. The energy in the gem pulsed as he pulled it out. He kept it away from the fire as he showed it to Alyssa.

"It's beautiful." she said. She made no move to grab it from Matt, but she focused on the energy pulsing and writhing in the middle. Matt pocketed the gem again, and looked at Alyssa. He waited for her to begin her story, which he was very curious about.

"My story..." she said quietly, "...Begins in Newbark Town, where I was born. I was always interested in pokemon, and I always listened to stories trainers told when they passed through. I helped my Father do his research for Elm from time to time, so I got to study some pokemon first hand."

The stew started to simmer, indicating it was done. Alyssa took the pot off of the fire and set it down on the ground away from the fire. She looked through her bag, but couldn't find any bowls. Despite any of this, she continued her story.

"About a month after my either birthday, my father went on a field experiment and never came back. The assistants that did come back had no injuries, but they refused to give details. My mother couldn't handle the grief, and fell ill from depression. I worked at the Laboratory for pay, which helped support my mother and I. 2 years later, I got my trainer's license. Even though I had my license, I could not journey out because of my mother. I continued my work at the lab, raising beginner pokemon for new trainers."

Alyssa's face grew sad, as if she had just learned of something horrible. She continued, a few tears falling down from her eyes.

"About a month ago, my mother died from unknown reasons. There was nothing wrong with her, at least that they could tell. I chose to journey across the world in search of my father, hoping he was still alive. His last known location was by the Indigo Plateau in the victory road. But..."

"They won't let you in without eight badges..." Matt finished for her. Alyssa nodded, and sighed when she gave up looking for the bowls. Matt reached into his bag and pulled out 5 bowls, 1 for each of his pokemon, him, and her. Alyssa shook her head and called out a Chikorita.

"Do you have one more bowl?" she asked. Matt nodded and took out another bowl. Alyssa took the bowls and filled them up. Matt took out Pachirisu's and Budew's pokeballs and called them out. Both pokemon cheered at the sight of the food and eagerly started eating. Charmander, Chikorita, Matt, and Alyssa followed suit, eating at the leisure. They talked a bit while eating, but mostly stayed quiet.

"You know what new trainers do when they meet each other?" Alyssa asked after eating. When Matt shook his head, she finished, "They battle!"

She jumped up and Chikorita did the same. Matt also got up, leaving his bowl on the ground near where he stood. He was ready to go at any time, even if he was tired. Since she only had one pokemon, Matt already knew the rules. A one versus one match, no subs.

"Alright Charmander, let's go!" Matt said. Matt's choice was a smart one, not only because of the type advantage it gave him, but because Charmander was the only pokemon in his team that wasn't battle worn at the moment. Both trainers and their pokemon stood off, ready to go.

To be continued...


	10. A battle and more

Chapter

Alyssa and Matt stood at opposite ends of the camp, with Charmander and Chikorita also facing off from in front of their respective trainers. This was a handicapped battle for Charmander, as it's tail would give away it's position while Chikorita could hide in the dark.

"Chikorita, use razor leaf!" Alyssa called, thus starting the battle. Chikorita spun the leave on it's head and fired nearly a dozen leaves in Charmander's direction.

"Counter with ember!" Matt called. Charmander fired off the same number of embers as there were leaves plus some. The leaves were burnt by the molten embers, and most of the embers still went through. The small fireballs flew at Chikorita quickly.

"Dodge that, and hit it with another Razor Leaf." Alyssa called. Chikorita jumped to the side quite gracefully, and spun the leaf on it's head once again, firing the group of leaves at Charmander. Without needing a command, Charmander fired off another group of embers, burning through the leaves again.

"_Why does she keep doing that?" _Matt thought, _"It will only get blocked again and again. Unless she's trying to tire Charmander out, then she would be free to land more and more attacks."_

"Charmander, use ember to attack this time!" Matt called. Charmander fired off another plethora of embers at Chikorita. Chikorita dodged again, and Alyssa got a smirk of triumph on her face.

"Chikorita, use Poisonpowder." Alyssa called. Matt now realized what she was doing as he watched Chikorita's leaf turn into a mini propeller and the sparkling powder flew into the air.

"Charmander, dodge it!" Matt called. Charmander attempted to dodge, but the poisonpowder spread with the wind, making it cover the camp. Both trainers covered their noses ad mouthes so they wouldn't inhale the violet powder. Charmander didn't know what to do, and inhaled the powder.

_"I can't believe I fell for that." _Matt thought. He knew Charmander wasn't going to hold up in it's poisoned state, and he wasn't going to give a good fight. He had to try though, or he wouldn't last long on his own journey. Slowly, a plan formed in his head, that wouldn't hopefully end the battle in his favor.

"Charmander, use ancient power!" Matt ordered. Charmander fired off a small orb of condensed earth energy at Chikorita. Chikorita dodged the attack again, but Charmander was enveloped in a layer of brown aura, and it's stats were rising. Though not part of the plan, it would give it a better chance of succeeding.

"Great, now use Ember!" Matt said. Charmander fired off a few embers, but the poison was taking effect more greatly than Mat had anticipated. Chikorita was hit, but not enough to make it go down.

"Chikorita, finish this with tackle!" Alyssa said. Chikorita charged at the weakened Charmander head first. Charmander was too tired to battle, and was struck by the attack. The attack was enough to take Charmander down. Charmander landed on the ground stomach first. It tried to get up, but it's limbs betrayed it's will, refusing to move more than that absolutely had to.

"Charmander!" Matt called. Matt ran up to Charmander and picked it up. He reached into his bag and pulled out a small, purple spray bottle. He pulled the small trigger on the bottle, releasing the spray from it onto Charmander. Charmander flinched at the stinging feeling it felt, but soon sighed in relief as the wounds quickly healed.

"You did great, you should rest." Matt said. He looked around, but only saw one sleeping bag. Alyssa's bag had no sleeping bag either.

"You don;t have a sleeping bag?" Matt asked. Alyssa blushed a bit, and shook her head. Her pink hair flowed through the air, and some metal from her hairbobs rang through the camp.

"You can use mine." Matt said.

"What about you? Won't you get cold?"

"No. I have Charmander."

"But that won't keep your whole body warm. It's fire is too small. Wouldn't it be better to share the bag for a couple of nights?" Alyssa asked. It was Matt's turn to blush, though his would obviously be much more obvious. He felt the blood rush to his face from the thought, and he quickly retreated towards the nearest dry spot, which had been hit by an ember during the battle.

"I'll be fine." he said laying down, "Really. Good night."

With that, Alyssa climbed into the sleeping bag, blushing a a bit at the thought of the cold and unrelenting night Matt was in for and how her forgetfulness brought it upon him. She rolled over away from the fire so she could sleep without the light of the fire would not keep her awake.

Later that night, a nudging made Matt wake up. He was strangely warm, and when he opened his eyes he saw his Charmander nudging him awake. He sat up.

"What's up Charmander?" Matt whispered. Before Charmander could answer, a blinding pain erupted in the back of his head. He fell, only the sounds of Chamander's desperate cries and Alyssa's scream being the things he remembered.

To be continued...


	11. The Oragnization without a name

((Warning: This is an extremely long chapter compared to the others.))

Chapter 10 The hidden organization

The first thing Matt became aware of was the throbbing pain in the back of his head. As he slowly slipped back into reality, he became aware of other things like the cold, hard floor and faint voices. He opened his eyes, but a bright light made him close them again. He tried to move his hands, to get into a more comfortable position, but his hand were bound behind his back.

_"Was I captured?"_ Matt thought, _"By who though? And why Alyssa and I?"_

His thoughts were interrupted by more voice, these voice closer but still muffled by a door or wall. They were getting louder, so they were getting closer. Soon, Matt could hear a door open, and he could finally understand what the men were saying.

"We don't have authorization." one said in a rough voice, "Why are we doing this?"

"Because this boy or this girl are supposed to have something of great power." the other responded, this one having the voice of an old man, "If we can get the item from them, we can surely overthrow Tam Rocket as the lading crime syndicate in this region."

"What about our leader?" the first asked, "He won't approve of this."

"Then he will fall with Team Rocket and the lesser organizations." the old man said. Matt heard some typing, and whatever he was on shake violently. He heard a large machine running, and soon whatever he was on made impact with something. Two pairs of footsteps came closer and stopped near him, and only then, did he dare to stir. Matt opened his eyes now that the spotlight wasn't in his eyes and got up to his knees. He looked up to see two people, a male and a female, looking at him, and a doctor in a small room behind them. The two closest to him had dark blue and gold trench coats on. Their undershirts were black, along with their pants and boots.

"Oh, Doctor, he's awake." the girl said. Matt looked around. He was in a small cell. It was shaped like a hexagon, with the door built into the end of it. All that was in the cell was a metallic bed, which he was on, built into the wall and a small toilet. There was a small opening in the door, which was barred off narrowly. When Matt looked back at the door, the Doctor was staring through the small window at him very intently.

"You, Ethan, release his binds." the doctor said. The male, who had short red hair and and emerald green eyes, came into the cell. He went behind Matt and cut the ropes binding Matt's arms. Matt massaged his wrists when he had free movement again, getting the blood to flow once more.

"Come boy, I want to talk to you." the doctor said. Matt got up and walked out of the cell, knowing he wasn't in the position to argue. He looked at his surroundings, and was shocked at what he saw. Going all the way up as far as he could see was a huge circular rooms with hexagonal dents in the walls and one hexagonal hole. He now saw that the dents were actually isolated cells that were brought down by a huge mechanical arm. It was an ingenious way to make sure the high security prisoners didn't escape. When he looked down, he noticed that the cells went as far as he could see downwards as well. The bottom could not be seen.

"Come on, we don't have all day." the doctor said. Matt followed him across a small bridge and onto the small control room of the mechanical arm, followed by Ethan and the unintroduced girl. The doctor fiddled with the controls a bit, and the arm started moving downwards. As the arm moved down, Matt looked through through a small window at all the small cells. Each one had a person in them, some of them wearing a rocket, galaxy, magma, or aqua uniform on them.

"Sit down." the doctor said, pointing to a small seat in the back of the room. Matt quickly sat down and stared at the doctor. The doctor looked at Matt, and Mat now finally got a good look at his face. All of his hair was white, including his beard. His eyes were more of a silver color, which was unusual to see, even when comparing them to Alyssa's golden eyes.

"I want to ask a few questions." the doctor said, "Nothing personal, just about your journey up to this point."

Matt said nothing, instead taking to glaring back into the doctor's eyes.

"So, have you encountered any strange pokemon?" the doctor asked, "Any creatures your pokedex couldn't identify or strange events that has happened to you?"

"No." Matt said. The creature saving him from his fall in the ravine happened before the adventure, so he wouldn't get caught in a lie detector or anything.

"How about any findings?" the doctor asked, "Any strange objects or gems?"

"Yeah." Matt said.

"And when is that gem now?" the doctor asked.

"Why should I tell you?" Matt asked, "I don't even know who you people are or what you're going to do with it."

"Hmph." The scientist walked to the window of the room and stared out at the passing cells. He seemed to be thinking about something very carefully. He didn't move from the position near the room window, but spoke once again.

"All you youngsters always start out so virtuous, and most never advance past that point." he said, "You don't think past what you think is right or wrong, and you ignore what your actions could cause onto others."

Matt didn't get it. He was just being careful in asking who they were. From what he heard, they were a large Crime Syndicate bent on ruling the crime world.

"I'll tell you who we are, but you must promise never to reveal." the doctor said, "Revealing our secrets could prove dire or fatal."

"So you'd kill me if I let slip who you are?" Matt asked, "You're obviously no better than the rockets."

"Exactly as I meant before." the doctor said, "You thought of what was right in your point of view before thinking things over in our point of view. If we were to simply detain you, you could somehow manage to escape. Ending your life would ensure no more of our secrets would be leaked."

"I'm not giving the jewel to you." Matt said, "But tell me who you are. I won't tell."

The doctor turned to him, staring into Matt's eyes. His gaze was ever judicious and piercing, as if he was peering into Matt's mind through his eyes like windows. The arm came to a halt, and Matt could see a very luxurious looking lounge around outside of the room now. None of the furniture was made of metal. In fact, they all seemed to be quite clean and comfortable.

"We are an organization called Guardians." the doctor said, "We pose as a criminal organization to get the trust of others and to capture them. My name is Dr. Raine and these two are Ethan and Vanessa."

"Doctor..." Vanessa began. The doctor cut her off with his hand, telling her to be quiet. She didn't say anything else, watching the scene from the background with Ethan.

"Why do you want the jewel?" Matt asked.

"Because we think it may grant us the ability to round up the Rockets with relative ease." the doctor said.

"I'm still not giving it to you." Matt said, "You've given me no proof that I can believe you."

"Hmmm, you're using that head of yours a bit now I see." The doctor said, "And why should I have to present proof to you? You're not in a favorable situation to be demanding things from us."

Matt knew he was right. He was more or less their prisoner right now, along with Alyssa somewhere, but that didn't mean he would comply so easily with them. Unbeknown to them, he had heard their little talk, and he wasn't going to give up the jewel.

"And if I'm to believe you, why should I be treated as a prisoner?" Matt asked, "It only makes me more suspicious of you."

"We have our reasons." the doctor said. He beckoned Matt out of the door, and Matt did as he said. The whole room was the same colors as Ethan's and Vanessa's uniforms, most with the trims and edges of things the only gold in the room. The doctor sat down in the most comfortable chair in the room while Ethan and Vanessa sat in the other two chairs, leaving Matt standing.

"You have your reasons for not complying with us." The doctor said, "And I also noticed much hostility in you."

"You say that as if you haven't given me a reason for it." Matt said.

"Yes, you're right." the doctor said, "But this little trip out of your cell wasn't just for the questions. It's much more than that."

Matt stayed silent, listening to him trying to egg Matt for more questions or reactions. When the doctor saw nothing from Matt, he continued.

"We brought you down here to purpose a job for you." he said, "We have open spaces that need filling in our organization, and are offering to give you one of those positions."

"So it's an offer to join you." Matt said.

"Yes. We saw your battle with the girl, and we were impressed with both of you. You two show great talent in the arts of battling." the doctor said, "With time and more training, you could be the very person we need, and we wouldn't need the jewel."

Matt still stayed silent. His mind was racing for ideas out of this situation, but no ideas came. He looked around the room, pretending to be thinking about it. Something caught his eye. It was his pack, along with Alyssa's. An idea sprung into his mind when he saw them.

"Alright, fine." Matt said, "I have a jewel."

"Hm?"

"It has some kind of energy pulsing inside of it." Matt said, "And it's always cold and moist."

"You have it?" the doctor asked, "Where?"

"In my pack." Matt said, "In a hidden pocket at the bottom of the main pocket."

The doctor got up, and the two others followed suit. They all nodded to each other and went to the bags. Vanessa kept a very close eye on Matt though, as if expecting something.

"_They fell for it." _Matt thought, _"Even if she's looking, she would have a hard time to get to me."_

Matt sighed, and sat don on the floor. Vanessa looked away to see what was happening with the doctor, and Matt took his chance. He jumped up and bolted to the arm, taking only two leaps to get into the control room. He heard Vanessa call the warning and give chase, but it was too late. Matt had closed and locked the door and also started the arm up. The arm went up, leaving the other three behind.

_"They aren't stupid." _Matt thought, _"But they should have a remote control center for this thing somewhere. If I could just..."_

Matt worked on the small computer for a second and looked around at all the controls. A few buttons and switches were blinking, and under a switch was a label saying "Remote Control" on it. Matt flicked it to off, hoping to buy some time before they could hack the system.

_"Alyssa..." _ Matt thought, _"She has to be in here somewhere. But where!? There are hundreds of thousands of cells here!"_

The problem was how to find her cell, and no answers were going to come out easily. He fiddled with the computer and came to a prison listing after a while. He first found his name out of curiosity. He was in the high security area for being highly dangerous? The thought made him laugh. He scrolled through the listings until he found Alyssa, who was being held in the lower security places.

_"If either of us could have had the jewel, why put her into the low security areas? A big hole in your plan."_

Matt got to the top floor and exited the arm, which started going back down again. It would take awhile for a round trip, but he still had to hurry. He ran to the nearest door, opening it carefully. No one was there, so he entered the room. He seemed to be in a storage area. There were pokeballs of all kinds, TMs, HMs, and all kinds of other pokegear. Matt looked through the room for nearly 30 minutes, until he finally came across his and Alyssa's pokeballs. They were hidden carefully, but he recognized the scratches of them to be from various happenings.

After belting them all on for easy carrying, he looked through the room again quickly. He took two pokegears from the storage, seeing as they were brand new. And plus, this way they wouldn't get lost that much anymore. He left the room, and noticed the pole of the arm coming up now. When he looked down though, the arms itself wasn't in sight.

He left through the next door into a long hallway, which would hopefully lead out. He continued down the hallway for a while, no doors or anything along the way. Ten minutes since he entered the long hallway, he saw a door in the distance. He quickened his pace until he heard flapping wings behind him. He turned to see a Pidgeotto flying at him at a very quick pace, and behind it was Vanessa and Ethan.

"Pachirisu!" Matt called, throwing it's pokeball. Pachirisu came out in a blaze of white light, sparks running along it's body. The Pidgeotto continued charging, ignoring the small pokemon and heading right for Matt. Matt hit the deck, the Pidgeotto soaring right overhead.

"Use Shockwave!" Matt called. Pachirisu charged up and fired fire blue shockwave in all directions, hitting both the Pidgeotto and both Ethan and Vanessa. Pachirisu jumped onto Matt's shoulder and Matt ran for the door. Running through, he shut the door behind him leaned against it. He tossed Charmander's pokeball into the air and Charmander came out in a blaze of white, fire-like light.

"Charmander, use ember on the door frame." Matt said. Charmander's fire was able to melt the metallic frame, molding the door shut. The lack of response on the other side made Matt assume they took a different route. He recalled Charmander and examined the room. It was a large circular room again, but there were several doors to the one room. One of the doors was already open, revealing stairs leading up.

"Alyssa!" Matt called, "Can you hear me!?"

"Matt!?"

Matt flinched at the sounds. He could have sworn his name was called from two directions. He looked around, and a voice called from the door directly in front of him.

"Matt, over here!" Alyssa called. Matt ran to the door and looked at it. It was sealed shut, and the was no control panel. Once again, he called out Charmander and Pachirisu.

"Stand back." he said to Alyssa, "You two, fully charge ancient power and shockwave and blast that door."

Both pokemon nodded, and started charging up. The charge took less than a minute, and the attacks fired off. Ancient power was not a small orb, but a large orb and shockwave was a large beam-like blast. The door to the cell blasted inwards, plastering to the wall from the heat of the electricity. Alyssa came running out and jumped onto Matt, bear hugging him. Matt knew it was more for gratitude and for feelings.

"Thanks Matt!" she said. Matt held out her pokeballs, and she belted them on. He also handed her one of the pokegears, and she hung it around her neck. She looked around and at the stairs.

"It's that way." she said, "It's an underground prison for these people."

"Ok, let's get out of here." Matt said. He took a step towards the stairs, but a voice stopped him.

"Matt! Wait!"

"Karren!?" Matt called, "Where are you?"

"Over here!"

The voice came from a door clear across the room. Matt nodded at Alyssa and headed over to the door. Charmander and Pachirisu followed. Matt looked at the door, which was the same case as Alyssa's.

"Stand back." Matt called to her, "Alright you two. This door this time."

"The process happened all over again, only this time it was Karren who ran out. She didn't hug Matt, but she had a serious look on her face.

"We should get out of here." Matt said, "They could come at any moment."

All three agreed, and they left up the stairs. It was a long staircase, and it took a while to get to the top.

_"Why did they have to make their base so big?" _ Matt thought. It was more of a hassle than anything else. When they finally reached the top, they came out into a forest. The trees were thick and the underbrush was just as thick. They walked out of the corridor, only for the door to close behind them. Now, Karren hugged Matt.

"I thought I wasn't ever going to get out!" she said, "How did you get there, and who is she?"

"That's all stuff better left for later." Matt said, "I see you still have your pokemon, and I still have the jewel. We should get out of here."

Both girls agreed. They left after getting hat little they had together, they set off in a random direction. They had no leads, and they didn't want to take the time to program the pokegears. Their hopes were high now that they were free, and they could only wish that it would stay that way.


	12. Lost in thought

Chapter 11 Shopping and badges.

"I see." Professor Oak said, "So they threatened to kill you?"

"Yeah, and they call themselves the Guardians." Matt said, "So, you have any ideas?"

"I doubt they would go that far, as it would draw attention they obviously do not want." Oak said, "As for the jewel, I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks Professor." Matt said, "Anything else?"

"No, I think it's best to leave off the subject." Oak said, "Now, I must be going."

The screen went black, and Matt hung up his phone. He got up, pushing back the chair as he did. He turned around and looked behind him. The pokemon center of Pewter City was quite empty, which was strange for a pokemon center. He walked up to the counter, where Nurse Joy sat working on the computer.

"Hello Nurse, are my pokemon ready yet?" Matt asked. Joy looked up at him with that usual smile that ever seemed to leave her face.

"Of course, here they are." she said. She a few pokeballs from a tray near her and handed them to Matt. Matt said his thanks and walked out of the center, looking around the stone city. Kids played in the streets while the adults watched their children and went along with their business. There was no contest hall here, so all he could do was wait for Karren and Alyssa to get done with their battles at the gym. He began to walk around town, wandering around aimlessly while lost in his thoughts.

_"I could always practice." _Matt said, _"It'll probably take a while."_

He thought for a second. None of his pokemon were exactly contest material, and from what he heard from Joy was that the next contest was just on the other side of Mt. Moon. That didn't exactly give him much time to catch a new pokemon and train it either. The fact that they had been in Pewter city for a couple of days now made him wonder why he hadn't taken that time to practice.

_"I chose Charmander for battling." _Matt thought, _"And Pachirisu and Budew don't have any combinations that would look that good."_

The cold winter wind blew across the town, blowing some snow alone with it. There seemed to be no end to the snow as it began to fall once again.

_"Snowing again." _Matt thought, _"We'll all be buried in the stuff if this keeps up. Christmas is coming up, and I still haven;t gotten Karren or Alyssa something."_

He returned to reality once again to look at his surroundings. He was right in front of the pokemon gym, which was highly decorated. He remembered when Brock was the leader, as he had made a couple of visits here before he left. Back then, you wouldn't see a shred of decoration here, but now the whole place was covered in red and green.

An idea slowly wormed it's way into Matt's mind. He remembered Budew's absorb attack went from green to red whenever it connected with it's target. But what would he use for a target? Budew's leaves were also green. The idea evolved as time passed as Matt sat outside of the gym. Battle noises could still be heard from inside, and he didn't want to disturb them.

_"I could test it, but the cold may end up getting to Budew, and that's wouldn't work. Maybe somewhere else." _Matt thought. He looked at the gym. Maybe the new leader would let him use it for a while until it was safe for them to leave. He jumped up at the thought.

"I'll ask after the battles." Matt said to himself, "For now, let's go get those presents!"

He ran into town, looking for a shop or mall he could look for presents in. He finally came to a small shopping Mall. It looked new, so he decided to look at it's wares. As he entered, a warm air flowed out and around him. The inside suggested a lot of money was put into it, ad that it was new due to all of the ads and such.

Matt walked through the store, which was fairly busy, but not packed. It had a very large assortment of items, from silver and gold to custom pokeballs made from the Devon Company and even, as Matt saw, pokemon themselves. Matt had a bad feeling about this place now, but he continued shopping. He finally came across something that looked like it would suit both Karren and Alyssa. They were custom made balls from Devon, and in their favorite colors too! He examine the labels on them and their prices.

"Friend and Luxury balls." Matt said to himself, "Wow, only 200 each? That's pretty cheap. Still, if they're that cheap, something must be up..."

Even if they were cheap for some reason, he picked up five of each. Even with his savings over the five or so years of working for Oak, he didn't want to spend it all. $2000 out of his $5000 would be enough for gifts. Be brought the items to the counter and waited as the cashier put each ball through the scanner. When it rang up as 2000, Matt paid and requested the presents to be wrapped.

He left soon with two small boxes that contained the presents, wrapped in Pewter's own special wrapping paper, which was covered in Onix and Geodudes. He packed it into his new bag, which was sent by Oak the day before and headed back to the gym. He dashed up the stairs to the spectator area and entered. Alyssa stood with several small children, watching a battle between Karren's butterfree and the leader's Onix.

"Where have you been?" Alyssa asked, "Oak couldn't have held you up this long."

"Shopping." Matt said, "What's happened so far? And who's winning?"

"Well, I battled." Alyssa said holding up a badge, "And I won! Karren took out his first two Geodudes with Butterfree, and is working on Onix right now."

"Congratulations." Matt said, "Has Karren lost any pokemon yet?"

"Nope. She only has two, but that Butterfree is really well trained." Alyssa said, "I'd hate to be the leader right now."

Butterfree was weaving it's way through Onix's attacks until Onix slammed it's tail into the ground. The earth that was struck shot up and encased butterfree. The Rock Tomb attack Sunk back into the ground, leaving Butterfree lying o the floor. It must have been tired to have been taken out by a single attack like that. Karren recalled it and took out a second pokeball. She threw it up and Squirtle came out, ready to battle against it's large opponent.

"So what were you shopping for?" Alyssa asked. Any noise from below was blocked out of the spectator's stands, to prevent cheating.

"Presents." Matt said.

"Oh, what did you get me?"

"That would ruin the surprise." Matt said. Matt was focused on the battle and didn't notice Alyssa getting closer until she was leaning against his arm. He jumped a bit from the sudden contact as her face got closer to his.

"Won't you please tell me?" she asked. She was trying to make her voice sound enticing, to get Matt to submit and tell her. While Matt did blush deeply, he didn't submit. He just shook his head and smiled.

"No, you'll find out in a couple of days." Matt said. Alyssa stopped leaning on his arm and socked him on the same arm. It was a playful punch, and Matt shook his head again, continuing to watch the battle between the leader and Karren. Squirtle was obviously winning, as Onix was drenched and Squirtle had not been touched.

Onix swung it's tail at Squirtle, and Squirtle back flipped out of the way. Squirtle unleashed a super quick blast of water at Onix. The Aqua Jet hit dead on, felling the Onix. The leader recalled his pokemon, walking halfway across the field to meet Karren. He reached into his shirt pocket and held out the Boulder Badge to Karren, who took it gratefully. She ran up to Squirtle and jumped up and down in joy.

Matt got up and left the spectator area, jumping down the stairs to reach the bottom more quickly. He got there just as Karren burst through the door and launched herself onto Matt in a bear hug. The force of the tackle caused Matt to fall over.

"I won I won!" she called. She released her grip on Matt and showed him the badge. Both of his friends had won, but he was sort of disappointed in himself. They both had advanced one step into their career and he had passed up his first chance to advance.

"Congratulations." Matt said, "Shall we head back to the pokemon center?"

"Yeah!"

They got up, and left for the pokemon center. Both of the girls were explaining their battles, while Matt lagged behind listening and thinking about the upcoming contest.


	13. Another Save

**A few days after Karren and Alyssa's gym battles.**

Matt sat at one of the many round tables in the quiet pokemon center at Pewter City. The whole town was on a blizzard alert, so no trainers were allowed to leave town. While it was a nuisance to have to sit and wait for it to pass. Even Oak had told Matt to stay in pewter while they were under the warning. There was only one thing that kept Matt in Pewter, and that was something Joy had told him.

_"The contest in Cerulean is going to be canceled until a week after the warning is already."_

_"Well, at least it give me more time to practice, as long as I'm not on duty." _he thought. The non-stop snow had forced all the trainers with fire pokemon to help clear the streets every once in while. Matt looked out the window at the tall wall of snow covering most of it. All he could see out of the unblocked part of the window was the grey sky and still falling snow.

"Alyssa and Karren are out looking for more pokemon to find." Matt said to himself. He was bored out of his mind and with nothing to do. After five minutes of staring out of the window, he finally decided to go on his rounds early.

_"At least it'll get me out of here and keep me sane..."_ he thought. He got up, putting on his coat, hood, and placed his pokeballs on the inside pocket of his coat. They'd likely be frozen onto the belt if he wore them that way. He called out Charmander, who looked around and flared it's tail fire. Lastly, he picked up the gem and put it with his pokeballs. If the Guardians wanted the gem, they'd have to get it from him and only him.

"Well, let's go Charmander!" Matt said. They walked out the door, and the cold air blasted them as if the blizzard had already arrived. They walked out into the street, which was still clear of any thick layers of snow. It was dead quiet in the whole town, except for echoing sounds of battling and the people's pokemon clearing the streets of snow. As they rounded the corner, Matt saw a thick wall of snow.

"Alright Charmander, use ancient power." Matt said. Charmander charged up the now medium sized orb and fired it at the wall of snow. The orb made contact and detonated, blowing a large portion of the snow into the air. When the snow cleared, most of the wall has been decimated.

_"These trips around town have really helped Charmander grow more powerful." _Matt thought. Now matter how much he hated being stuck here, the dark cloud certainly did have it's silver linings. Charmander finished up with the wall using an ember attack, which had also grown increasingly powerful.

"Ready to move on?" Matt asked. Charmander gave it's own name in reply, nodding as it said it. They started moving down the now open street, but stopped when faint whining noises reached them. Matt turned around, listening as closely as he could. He could still hear them very faintly, but didn't know where they were coming from. Charmander was also listening, and ran down a nearby alley.

"Hey, Charmander!" Matt called. He ran after his pokemon, following down the narrow alley and all the way to some trash cans. Charmander was pointing to the cans frantically, as if something important were inside. The whining was louder here, and it echoed through the alley. Matt opened the trash can Charmander was pointing to, and was appalled at what he saw. A small Eevee was curled up inside of the trash can, looking up. It apparently, it couldn't get out and was stuck inside.

"Who would have done this?" Matt asked, "The pokemon center it right around the corner..."

Matt reached in and brought the small pokemon out, wrapping it in his coat so it would stay warm. The Eevee didn't struggle or try to break free, as it seemed tired for some reason. Matt walked out of the alley with Charmander following him. He turned towards the pokemon center, but a fierce wind blew. The wind was the most intense wind he had ever felt. He slid back across the ice from it, halting just before the curb.

"The blizzard is almost here." Matt said, "Get back into your pokeball Charmander, you'll be safer there."

Matt held out the pokeball and a beam of thin, red light shot out of the ball. The light struck Charmander, pulling it into the ball. Matt shrunk the ball back down to it's previous size and put it back into his jacket. Another wind blew, this time knocking Matt over onto the sidewalk. He looked back down the road, farther into town, to see a thick sheet of white advancing quickly.

"Not good." Matt said, "Hold on!"

Matt turned round and ran in the opposite direction, towards Viridian Forest. It wasn't far, and it would serve as better protection them the widely spaced buildings. The wind struck him before he got far, and he was sliding forward quickly now. He fell onto his rear, starting to slide that way, with not much luck in steering.

He saw the tightly packed trees ahead. He knew he wasn't going to be able to get through that without hitting trees. He turned his back to the trees, thinking it would cause less damage to both him and Eevee if he hit them like that. He closed his eyes, bracing for the impact, but something happened.

The gem started glowing brightly enough to blind Matt should he have opened his eyes. The cry of the mysterious pokemon was once again heard as Matt hit the first tree. Though he was bent over to his head wouldn't make impact, the force of the impact caused his back to straighten. His head shot up, and hit the tree as hard as his back did.

He wasn't sliding anymore at least, but now he felt so much pain he couldn't move. As he his vision blurred, he could see the shadow of a large pokemon descending in front of him. From the shadow, Matt could see it had a long neck and two wing-like limbs. Matt couldn't tell anything else, but he did feel the pokemon pick him up and fly into the forest. Where ever he had landed, he was tired from the cold, and was now losing consciousness. He was soon taken by the black abyss again, faintly aware of the mysterious pokemon and Eevee communicating.


End file.
